Mafia Boss Discovers His Bride Is a Virgin… He Thought His Innocent Bride Was…
Chapter 11
Their daughter was born on a rainy Tuesday morning.
They named her Sofia.
Matteo held her first.
His hands shook.
Isabella watched him.
“You’re crying.”
“No.”
“You are.”
“It’s rain.”
She laughed.
“Inside the hospital?”
He looked at the baby.
“She’s so small.”
“She won’t stay that way.”
He smiled.
For the first time in his life, Matteo understood what his father had felt.
The need to protect without controlling.
The desire to give someone freedom even when the world was dangerous.
Isabella watched him.
“You’re going to be a good father.”
“I don’t know how.”
“You’ll learn.”
She touched his hand.
“Like we learned everything else.”
Months later, Matteo took Isabella to a small restaurant.
No bodyguards in sight.
They sat at a corner table.
“You know,” Isabella said, “when I first met you, I thought you were terrifying.”
“You were right.”
She laughed.
“I was afraid of our wedding night.”
“I know.”
“I thought you’d expect something from me.”
He looked at her.
“I never did.”
“That mattered.”
He reached for her hand.
“You never owed me anything.”
She smiled.
“That was the first reason I trusted you.”
“And the second?”
“You listened.”
He nodded.
“The third?”
“You never treated my innocence like it was something you owned.”
His expression softened.
“That should be normal.”
“It isn’t always.”
They fell silent.
Then Isabella asked:
“Do you regret the arranged marriage?”
Matteo thought.
“I regret the reason it happened.”
“And the result?”
He smiled.
“Never.”
She leaned closer.
“Neither do I.”
Outside, rain fell against the windows.
Inside, the most feared man in the city held his wife’s hand.
Nobody in the restaurant knew who they were.
Nobody cared.
And that was exactly how Matteo wanted it.
